UNIONS MADE THE DIFFERENCE

Working people made our voices heard in the 2018 midterm elections. Together, we knocked on 2.3 million doors and made a half a million phone calls in support of the labor-endorsed candidates who will advocate for working families.

Richard L. Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, was presented Tuesday with the inaugural “World Peace Prize for Labor Leadership.” The event took place at the headquarters of the AFL-CIO, in Washington, D.C., in the George Meany Conference Room.

Monie Stewart-Cariaga recently decided to leave the townhouse she’s renting to buy a new home. For a single cocktail server, she couldn’t be in a better position to do it. Beyond the fair wage and tips she earns at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, Stewart-Cariaga plans to take advantage of a home-buying assistance program run by the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, the powerful union that represents service workers like her on the Vegas strip.

With growing membership, a budget back in the black and a strike fund that is rising by the year, the Auto Workers are much stronger than they were four years ago, retiring union President Dennis Williams says.

And if you really want a comparison, Williams added one bombshell at the end of his keynote address to the union’s convention, which opened June 11 in Detroit: “We have looked death in the eyes during the Great Recession.”

The Massachusetts AFL-CIO is proud to endorse 11 union members running for the State Legislature this Fall. Each of these endorsed candidates has a history of fighting for working people and we look forward to hitting the streets in support of their campaigns. Please make every effort to support each of labor’s endorsed candidates and do your part to bring labor’s voice to the state house!

A federal court in Philadelphia struck down a new city law that barred employers from asking job candidates about their salary history. The ruling has serious ramifications for the fight to narrow the gender wage gap.

It's no secret that the financial divide between CEOs and average worker in the U.S. has been growing. But in one case, the pay gap between corporate chiefs and employees has reached almost 6,000-to-1: Weight Watchers, where CEO Mindy Grossman earned 5,908 times what the median worker took home last year.

CEO pay for major companies in the United States rose nearly 6% in the past year, as income inequality and the outsourcing of good-paying American jobs have increased. According to the new AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch, the average CEO of an S&P 500 Index company made $13.94 million in 2017—361 times more money than the average U.S. rank-and-file worker.